According to the release, the members welcomed the Roman Catholic Church's acknowledgement of a substantial overlap in faith and the legitimacy of many Anglican traditions, a recognition that is the fruit of over 40 years of official dialogue between the two churches. And members were encouraged by statements made by Roman Catholic and Anglican leaders that the official dialogue between the two churches will continue, according to the release.

"Most everyone seemed clear that there were negative as well as some positive aspects to the Vatican’s initiative," said Bishop Christopher Epting, the Episcopal Church's ecumenical and interfaith officer. "We thought it was important to wait until we've seen the actual text of the constitution before saying much more, but wanted to affirm both churches' decisions to continue formal dialogue -- through ARC-USA -- with the only recognized province of the Anglican Communion in the United States (the Episcopal Church) and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. That's the official ecumenical dialogue, and that's what's important."

I await the generous, magnanimous outreach by The Episcopal Church to offer the Latin Rite, transfer of orders, and extra-geographical dioceses to those Roman Catholics who are troubled by their church’s rejection of women priests, married priests, and life-long, committed homosexual practice. This is the new ecumenism.

Blimey - how those great hopes have shrunk. Visible unity in our generation. The healing of a wound in the church’s life. Now it’s just - “They’re talking to us because we’re the only authorized franchise”.

The reports of ARCIC II have not been put forward for a formal response either by the RCs nor by the Anglican Communion (according to Cardinal Kasper). Words are being said but who is listening let alone learning? TEC’s actions and the Communion’s reponse bring into question the ability of the Communion to come to, or remain faithful to, agreements at all. How ironic the words from The Gift of Authority (ARCIC report form 1998) now seem:

37. The mutual interdependence of all the churches is integral to the reality of the Church as God wills it to be. No local church that participates in the living Tradition can regard itself as self-sufficient. Forms of synodality, then, are needed to manifest the communion of the local churches and to sustain each of them in fidelity to the Gospel. The ministry of the bishop is crucial, for this ministry serves communion within and among local churches. Their communion with each other is expressed through the incorporation of each bishop into a college of bishops. Bishops are, both personally and collegially, at the service of communion and are concerned for synodality in all its expressions. These expressions have included a wide variety of organs, instruments and institutions, notably synods or councils, local, provincial, worldwide, ecumenical. The maintenance of communion requires that at every level there is a capacity to take decisions appropriate to that level. When those decisions raise serious questions for the wider communion of churches, synodality must find a wider expression.

It is not surprising to me that the Catholic-TEC dialogues would focus on immigration reform. It is an area where some agreement can be found and the two institutions could conceivably work together on. It is common for such dialogues between religions with less in common to focus less on theological issues than areas of practical cooperation.

So, I am pretty surprised that this rather low-level conversation would involve Veritatis Splendor and its famous assertion that there is an objective moral law which is always in force without regard to one’s motivation, intention or particular circumstances and which renders contraception, sterilization, abortion, homosexual acts, divorce and remarriage etc. as intrinsically evil for all people regardless of their religious or philosophical convictions. I just can’t imagine what TEC and the Catholic Church would have to say to one another on this subject.